Then there are those like this contest played in the coldest conditions of the season thus far where one side scores early and their dominance grows and grows throughout the 90 minutes and ends up in a thumping win!And after skipper James Morrish brilliantly volleyed home Steve Haffner’s 7th minute free kick, you got the feeling that it was going to be Whitstable’s night!
Scott Heard’s lob over keeper Darren Hawkes doubled the lead just before half time before young Charlie Smith plundered two late strikes either side of James Everitt’s thunderous drive which for five minutes posed questions of a home defense that the Ramsgate front otherwise failed to do on a disappointing 90 minutes for the visitors!It really was a tough start for the Rams as they battled up the Belmont slope in the first half against an ever increasingly strong wind.
After only seven minutes the home side lead through a goal straight out of manager Nicky Southall’s training ground play book. Haffner flighted in a free kick from the left and Morrish timing his run to absolute perfection was on hand to volley the ball beyond Hawkes into the corner of the net.
It put the Rams on the back foot and for long periods of the first half its where Timmy Dixon’s found themselves. The move of the half came on 24 minutes and only first the brilliance of Hawkes and then the frame of the goal stopped the home side going two ahead. Heard was released down the right wing with a great threaded ball down the line, and from Heard’s driven centre only a sensational reflex save from Hawkes denies Smith from making it two. There followed two corners which the Rams struggled to clear before from a third Jake Mckenzie thumped a header against the angle of post and bar.
Moments later, from another Heard corner, Smith flashed a header narrowly wide of the left post. Now whether or not this was the wake up that the Rams needed is unclear, but suddenly the visitors stepped up their game and after some great play down the left Curtis Robinson drilled in a cross that Ian Pulman was first to react to only for Luke Watkins to produce a stunning save in the home goal. But how often does a side look to get back into a game only to concede again – and so it happened again! A long ball was cleared out of the home defence and it was Heard who reacted first to nip in behind a watching defence and lifted the ball over the advancing Hawkes and into the net.
After the break, the visitors had the first chance when a Ben Laslett drive was brilliantly handled by Watkins as it seemed destines for the top corner. Watkins again kept the visitors out with his third great save of the evening on 57 minutes. A cross from the left saw Tom Chapman have a super header brilliantly turned aside by the Whitstable keeper, and from the corner the ball again fell to Chapman who’s bobbling shot went wide of the right post.
Twenty minutes from time, the home side effectively sealed the point with a goal made and finished by Smith. The young striker picked the ball up just inside the Ramsgate half and drilled a ball wide to the right to Heard, who’s first time ball into the box was met by Smith who’d timed his run to perfection, but Hawkes pulled off another smart point blank save. Unfortunately for the Ramsgate keeper, the ball rebounded back to Smith who poked out a foot to make it three nil.
At long last, the visitors got going in front of goal, and Michael Everitt pulled a goal back on 72 minutes after his initial shot had been blocked. As the rebound fell back to the Ramsgate number ten, he was quickest to react as he blasted the ball into the net from the edge of the box. There was just for a few minutes signs that Whitstable could wobble, but drawing on the vast experience of the debut making Ian Cox, the Oystermen steadied the ship and completely sealed the win with a fourth. Adam Hopper lifted the ball into the box from half way, and as the ball fell to Smith via Morrish’s touch, and the young striker bounced the ball over Hawkes with a shot into the ground.
Southall had called for a reaction to his sides defeat on Guernsey at the weekend, and was delighted with the response which is probably just as well because next up for the Oystermen are the surprise Ryman South leader Walton Casuals at the Belmont on Saturday.
WHITSTABLE TOWN – Luke Watkins, Steve Haffner, Adam Hooper, Peter Huggens, Daniel Wells (Daniel Keyte 77), Ian Cox, Scott Heard, James Morrish, Charlie Smith (Joe Lester 83), Jake Mckenzie (Ross Webb 80), Jack Simon
RAMSGATE – Darren Hawkes, Joe Reeves (James Sherrman HT), Curtis Robinson, Luke Wheatlet (Andrew Miller 70), Ollie Schulz, Ben Laslett, Tom Chapman, Macaulay Murray, Ian Pulman, James Everitt, Arron Millbank
Subs not used – Warren Schulz, Kane Rowland & Shannon Harris
Referee – Dan Bonnywell
Assistants – Craig Burton & Simon Finnegan
Pictures supplied by Les Biggs.